A milestone has been marked at ICHK with the opening of the +1 Centre.

This specialist centre for students with pronounced educational needs has been developed over the summer.

Its opening represents the culmination of ICHK’s commitment to an ethos that insists that all children are worthy and deserving of the best possible education, targeted closely at their needs.

At ICHK, we have long catered for young people who find mainstream education a challenging match for their own learning styles and developmental journeys. We employ an extensive team of committed and inventive Learning Support Assistants, who apply themselves on a daily basis to the support of those students who need a little extra input if school is truly to come alive for them.

The +1 Centre has been designed to augment and extend this tradition of inclusive education much further, with the addition of a space and a teaching staff dedicated to the support of students with a greater and more exacting level of need.

In launching the +1 Centre, we believe that we are delivering on our responsibility to educate children across the widest possible range of capabilities.

There is great value of such provision in mainstream school settings. The specialist staff bring new and expert voices to conversations about learning and teaching, leading to higher quality discussion and debate among all staff; the children attending the centre take therapeutic benefit from being in a comprehensive, vibrant, caring environment, dedicated to growth and acceptance; while the mainstream students are strengthened by the insight to other ways of experiencing the daily flux of life and by witnessing the fortitude of children who face greater challenges and by the passion of adults who work alongside them.

The launch was attended by our six new Year 7 students and their parents. In an echo of the founding of ICHK, our new students and their teachers created handprints for a new permanent display outside the Centre.

Interest in the Centre has been extensive, and we are delighted to join a small number of other Hong Kong international schools in offering a specialist facility to provide an appropriate education. We look forward to the benefits that the whole community will take from having the Centre as part of our school.